Pitching and throwing machines have been used for many years. They have proven very effective in permitting baseball and softball batters, football receivers, soccer goalies, lacrosse, cricket players and others to practice hitting and catching thrown balls. They are also used in game situations where players run a risk of throwing out their arms or the players are simply too young and uncoordinated to reliably pitch strikes that batters can hit. In certain sports, such as football, it is often not critical that the ball be throwing perfectly, as the receivers need to learn to catch balls that are not thrown perfectly at them. In other sports, however, such as baseball, it may be important to precisely locate pitched balls so that batters can learn to hit balls that are just inside the strike zone or learn to take balls that are just outside of the strike zone. Or, if used in an actual game, can make it more challenging for the batter as the position of the pitch is even slightly changed. Similar advantages can be appreciated in other sports as well. Soccer goalies also need to be able to catch or at least block balls that are kicked into the corners of the net. Many pitching and throwing machines that have been manufactured and sold to date are simply not accurate enough to precisely locate the balls being thrown.